Founded by Max Farndale 1947 - 2018
14 Nov 2017 - The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand maintains its strong opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). “The Green Party has long opposed the TPPA. The new proposed deal, which came out of the weekend’s talks, still contains key ISDS concessions to corporations that put our democracy at risk, so our position remains the same,” said Green Party trade spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman.
“We support fair trade that brings real benefit to all New Zealanders – not trade deals that put our rights and our Government’s ability to legislate to protect our people and our environment at risk.
“ISDS mechanisms are a particular threat to environmental protections, with 85% of ISDS cases being brought by corporations focused on exploiting the environment and natural resources.
“The Green Party will be seeking to introduce new measures that require all trade agreements in the future to be part of the solution to climate change, global and local inequality and the protection of human rights.
“Standing in opposition to the TPPA does not make a difference to our relationship with Labour. Indeed it is a sign of the strength of that relationship that we can respectfully disagree on an important issue like the TPPA but still get on with the business of government.
“We made it clear to Labour in negotiations that we cannot support the TPPA, and they understand our policy difference.
“We will continue to use our position in Government to fight for better trade agreements that protect the interests of people and the planet, not just corporations,” said Ms Ghahraman.
| A Green party release || November 13, 2017 |||
14 Nov 2017 - Michael Molitch-Hou posted on engineering.com an article on HP’s Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) 3D printing technology. He writes that this technologythat has been one of the most exciting to watch, not just in terms of what it is capable of now, but what it portends for the future— a future that includes embedded electronics, augmented reality, ceramics and even metal. Laying out the road to that future, HP announced both the release of a new MJF printer, ahead of formnext, and, this past October, plans to embark on metal additive manufacturing (AM). Along with the new Jet Fusion 3D 4210 system, HP has also announced, as a part of its Open Materials Platform, an expanded materials portfolio and additional partners.
Jet Fusion 3D 4210
The newest MJF system, the Jet Fusion 3D 4210, is an upgrade to one of its flagship machines, the Jet Fusion 3D 4200. The 4200 was already an improvement upon the other flagship system, the 3200, in that it printed and cooled faster, and had lower material costs for serial production.
The 4210 takes these improvements further and, according to HP, “rais[es] the ‘break-even point’ for large-scale 3D manufacturing to up to 110,000 parts.” This means that producing up to 110,000 items on the system matches the costs of traditional mass manufacturing methods. Based on the company’s internal testing, parts can be mass produced at 65 percent of the cost of other AM technologies, such as fused deposition modeling and selective laser sintering (SLS).
Ramon Pastor, general manager of Multi Jet Fusion for HP’s 3D printing business, put this point in context, “HP’s Jet Fusion 3D systems have now reached a technological and economic inflection point that combines the speed, quality and scalability needed to accelerate manufacturing’s digital industrial revolution.”
The increased productivity is the result of hardware and firmware upgrades made to the existing Jet Fusion systems, which make it possible to perform continuous operation. This includes a new processing station for handling higher material volumes. Preorders for the machine, including upgrades for existing Jet Fusion customers, are available now.
New Materials
HP has a unique approach to its materials for MJF, allowing partners to develop proprietary materials on MJF systems to be sold through HP’s distribution network. As a part of the Open Materials Platform, it’s also possible to work with what the company dubs a Material Development Kit (MDK), which gives customers access to specific parts of the MJF process at various stages of printing, beginning with powder distribution.
Up to now, the materials were somewhat limited to a couple of varieties of black nylon powder. This material set has expanded with the latest news from HP, adding several materials that bring MJF closer in line with the technology’s number one competitor, SLS.
These materials include:
HP’s materials partners previously included Arkema, BASF, Evonik, Henkel, Lehmann & Voss, and Sinopec Yanshan Petrochemical Company. Along with news of the above materials, HP also added two more partners. Dressler Group will be giving the aforementioned chemical companies access to its toll grinding manufacturing capabilities to enable quicker material development. Berkshire Hathaway’s Lubrizol, a chemical company with thermoplastic polyurethane expertise, has also been added to the group and will be developing materials for final part production with MJF.
According to HP, over 50 chemical companies are “actively engaged” in the Open Materials Platform. The latest are Dow Chemical and DSM, who have purchased the MDK to develop powders for MJF. Evonik and Henkel have also purchased Jet Fusion printers themselves to develop powders for the platform.
HP Aims for Metal AM
At the HP Securities Analyst Meeting 2017 in Palo Alto in October, the company also announced that it was planning to enter the metal AM market, something I’d hypothesized since the launch of MJF at RAPID 2016.
President of 3D Printing at HP, Stephen Nigro, relayed at the event, “We have developed a novel 3D metal approach that is built to run a combination of high quality and improved economics [for] 3D-printed metals. Today’s 3D metal industry is focused primarily on specialized, high value, expensive applications. Our invention will transform the 3D metal into a more mainstream, high-volume production.”
The MJF platform had already been modified so that it could produce ceramic components, which likely involves binding the ceramic powder together before this completed green part is sintered in an oven. Metal, then, would require a similar approach, with the ceramic swapped out for metal.
This Metal Injection Molding-style technique has already been implemented with Desktop Metal’s technology, possibly putting the startup in direct competition with HP. We’ll know more next year when HP will officially announce the platform and its business plan for metal AM.
Also at the event, Nigro said that HP will be releasing its full-color MJF platform next year. This will give MJF a serious leg up on SLS, which requires either dying printed parts or printing in monocolor plastics. Combined with the productivity of MJF, full-color 3D printing will make it possible for the technology to compete with injection molding even further.
“MJF will be the one and only 3D printing technology in the industry that can make mechanical and robust functional full-color parts,” Nigro explained.“We plan to combine this color capability with a new, lower price position. The lower price position will open up new markets to HP, making it easier for designers and creators to access the technology. Being able to prototype with the same technology as full-scale production, which will change the end-to-end design process and accelerate the adoption of 3D printing.”
In an industry filled with hype, I’m reluctant to say that both of these announcements may have a profound impact on how the 3D printing industry evolves and may shake up the $12 trillion manufacturing industry, as HP claims it will.
| An engineering.com release || November 13, 2017 |||
13 Nov 2017 - Recent changes to the TPP agreement, now called CPTPP, appear to be a step forward, particularly with the potential removal of some of the more controversial parts, such as Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clauses. Yet, we need to remind ourselves that the primary target of these FTAs is the reduction of tariffs, providing benefits to our primary commodity exporters, but little relief to our high value manufacturers, who frequently encounter obstacles to free trade in the form of non-tariff barriers.
“Non-tariff barriers are the ‘dirty little secrets’ rarely written into trade agreements, but a matter of daily practice far away from glamorous trade talks. And probably, just as harmful to local manufacturers is the almost complete lack of enforcement of product standards in our domestic markets, allowing imported goods to trade on a price advantage. Not to mention government procurement practices that in most cases pay lip service only to the principle of giving local manufacturers a fair chance, says Mr Dieter Adam, CE, The Manufacturers’ Network.
“The removal of some of the contentious parts of the previous agreement is a positive move from the Government, giving the eventual agreement broader support in New Zealand. However, we know from past experience that the really hard work starts once the agreement comes into force, in working to remove the non-tariff barriers that form the biggest challenges for high-value manufacturers making the most of the markets involved, says Mr Adam.
“Quality trade agreements are a vital component of improving our export competitiveness, especially when non-tariff barriers that effect manufacturers are properly addressed. We cannot ignore the fact, however, that in spite of a string of recent FTAs, such as the China and Korean FTAs, the share of exports in GDP has been dropping over the past decade, rather than growing by 25% - the goal the previous Government had set itself not long after coming into power in 2008. As the new Government is rightly pointing out, New Zealand’s future prosperity can only be secured by significantly growing our exports of high-value products and services. And one of the key preconditions for that lies in improving our productivity, which has lagged through successive governments. Improving productivity and thus increasing our ability to create high-value goods and services is where the new Government should focus.
“The other critical enabler to a more balanced approach to growth in our economy is a more favourable and fair exchange rate, especially against the Australian Dollar, given that Australia is a key market for our manufacturing exports. And in that context comments made by the Acting Governor of the RBNZ, Grant Spencer, at the November MPS press conference that “We’re happy with this [the current] level of our currency, it’s in the vicinity of fair value” are certainly not helpful and point to a change from recent RBNZ statements under Graeme Wheeler, setting around 60 cents as a target rate. It will be interesting to see the response of the new Government to this new assessment of ‘fair value’ by the RBNZ. Addressing our exchange rate, which has remained significantly above trends in the previous decade, need to be part of the discussion in the upcoming review and appointment of a new Governor, said Mr Adam.
| A The Manufacturiers Network release || November 13, 2017 |||
13 Nov 2017 - Steel prices have risen 14 per cent writes Anna Gibson for the NZHerald earlier today. Rising international prices have prompted Pacific Steel to increase costs to its New Zealand customers by 14 per cent. Stan Clark, Pacific Steel's sales and marketing manager, wrote to customers, telling them of the price hike.
"As an outcome of international steel price movements since the middle of the year, traded steel prices have increased here in New Zealand throughout that period. As a consequence, Pacific Steel has reviewed its prices and will be reflecting this market movement by increasing its prices by approximately 14 per cent commencing for orders placed for manufacture from the November production campaign," Clark wrote
Continue here to the full article published in the NZHerald || November 13, 2017 |||
13 Nov 2017 - New Zealand’s champion truck driver for 2017 has been found following a highly competitive final of the NZ Truck Driving Championship held at Claudelands Events Centre in Hamilton last Friday. Northland’s Simon Reid of SJ Reid Transport proved his knowledge and skill across the many different aspects of the competition to take the victory and the title of NZ’s Champion Truck Driver 2017. The competition was incredibly tight with only a handful of points separating the top few competitors. For his efforts Simon took home a $6,000 cheque courtesy of major event sponsors TR Group and Master Drive Services.
24 regional and company heat winners fought it out across a range of theory and practical tests to find four class winners as well as the New Zealand Young Driver of the Year and the overall champion.
“To even have a chance of winning in amongst such a competitive field requires a high level of competence across a range of disciplines,” says competition coordinator Mark Ngatuere. “It’s not just driving, it’s a detailed technical knowledge of the machinery and the complex matrix of rules and regulations that govern our industry.”
In the rigid sections Sam Linton from Emmerson’s Transport took out the Class 2 competition and Andrew Crandon of Linfox Logistics won the Class 3 & 4 category.
Matthew Jackson of Ben Allen Transport came out on top of the Truck-Trailer Combination section, while John Baillie of Baillie Transport won the Tractor-Semi Combination category for the second year running.
In the ERoad NZ Young Truck Driver of the Year, David Rogers of Tranzliquid picked up the $1,500 winners cheque courtesy of ERoad. This category is limited to drivers 25 years old and younger and grows in strength and numbers every year.
“The Young Driver of the Year category is an important event to recognise some of the excellent young people in our industry and is designed to help inspire those who may be thinking about getting into road transport,” says RTF Chief Executive Ken Shirley.
“The competition steering committee would like to thank John Essex, Geoff Wright, Sandy Walker, Simon Carson, Grant Turner, Jeff Fleury, Hayley O’Connor, the Women in Road Transport network and Chief Adjudicator Don Wilson for their help in putting together such a well-run event. We also appreciate the work that our associations put into to running the regional qualifying heats and supporting the overall event.”
“Andrew Carpenter and his team at TR Group and Master Drive Services, as the major Championship sponsors, deserve a great deal of thanks for their continued support of the event. Without our sponsors events such as this would struggle to get off the ground,” says Shirley.
| An RTF release || November 13, 2017 |||
Newly morphed Progressive association replacement will become issues forum
13 Nov 2017 - Canada from which New Zealand imports vast amounts of pork also saved the much smaller Commonwealth nation’s bacon over the failed Trans Pacific Partnership customs and trade union.
Most of the office holders in New Zealand’s ruling Labour Party, including trade minister David Parker, had actively campaigned against it when it was the pet project of the former National government.
Deputy prime minister Winston Peters whose New Zealand First Party is the minority coalition member had consistently let it be known that he favoured instead a restoration of the UK-led preference era.
Canada’s withdrawal from the original TPP allows the New Zealand Labour-led coalition government to have the best of all worlds.
New Zealand has long been engaged in what amounts to free trade negotiations with Canada on carefully selected sectors in aerospace and marine advanced technology.
The collapse of the TPP means that New Zealand now can sidestep the ill-will stemming from even the merest hint of suspicion that its milk exporters might be treading on the gumbooted feet of Canada’s Quebecois dairy industry which is more protected than the crown jewels.
Canada was never keen on the TPP and from the outset saw it as a defensive move to preserve cohesion with the Washington Concensus, the string of post World War 2 alliances centred on the United States.
When President Trump ordered the United States out of the TPP, Canada’s enthusiasm for the scheme began to evaporate even more rapidly.
Premier Justin Trudeau did not become the international poster-boy for presidents and prime ministers everywhere without understanding that the most effective way of avoiding a disagreement is simply to absent yourself from the forum at which the disagreement will occur.
His slick piece of gamesmanship sidestepped the unwanted TPP participation confrontation and allowed the assembled the time they needed to digest the fact that there would be no Canada and thus no TPP.
To drive home the blunt message from this display of legerdemain he then caused his trade minister to drive home the message via a tweat stating that “despite reports, there is no agreement in principle on TPP.”
The result swiftly followed with the slimmed down, sans United States, and now Canada, version of the TPP being re-named the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement.
In the event, New Zealand premier Jacinda Ardern gave the appearance of anticipating all this when she emphasised from the rostrum at the conference the importance to it of climatic cooperation.
Miss Ardern thus also appears to have foreseen the future of this freshly hatched Progressive association which will be as a forum and meeting point on exactly such ethical moral issues as the climate one.
If Miss Ardern felt any relief at the outcome of the gathering, then she skilfully hid it.
The protest outside the original Auckland TPP signing ceremony stage-managed by the previous National government was an ugly affair.
Most of the participating protestors if in fact they were voters were face-value Labour voters.
The abandonment of the original TPP, the one that was the subject of the preliminary Auckland ceremony, means that Miss Ardern now sidesteps exactly the type of internal doctrinal party schism that in the past has proved so damaging to the Labour Party.
In the meantime New Zealand can enjoy its favourable trade balance with Canada and keep sending out the beef and the wine and receiving in return electronics, machinery, and of course the pork.
| This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. || Monday 13 November 2017 |||
13 Nov 2017 - The 2017 ExportNZ DHL Export Barometer released today shows Kiwi exporters are feeling confident and expecting orders to increase over the next 12 months, Business New Zealand says.
Optimism is very positive with 71% of New Zealand exporters expecting international orders to increase - this is a jump from 63% in 2016.
The research shows that overall 2017 has been a good year, with just over half (55%) of exporters achieving an increase in international orders.
While the survey was carried out prior to the election, ongoing political support for the export environment will be crucial to ensure Kiwi businesses achieve the perceived upcoming boost to orders.
Exporters responding to the survey cited several key ways in which assistance from the New Zealand Government could help their business. Research and development assistance came out top at 26%, closely followed by help attending trade shows with other NZ companies, and more free trade agreements (both 25%).
ExportNZ executive director Catherine Beard said: "The results show that trading with the USA has increased significantly over the past year, with more than half of Kiwi exporters sending orders to the USA and over half (55%) seeing the Trump administration as having a neutral impact on exports, while 41% thought it had a negative impact on exports,” Beard added.
"The fact that R&D has been flagged up as a key area for assistance is significant as more than half (52%) of exporters developed new products and services in a bid to boost export orders. Innovation can be a powerful tool for overcoming the ‘strength of competition in overseas markets’, which is the number one concern among exporters (42%).
Online commerce holds steady The 2017 ExportNZ DHL Export Barometer shows that while some exporters have embraced online commerce, not much has changed in the last two years.
One-fifth of exporters generate more than half of their international orders online, including 6% who generate all export orders this way. There is still plenty of room for growth as 26% said that none of their export orders are generated online.
DHL Express NZ country manager Mark Foy said: "Online commerce is a massive growth area for Kiwi exporters with huge potential to reach international audiences. Currently most businesses, 80%, are only spending one-fifth of their marketing budget online.
"Social media holds much untapped potential to reach overseas consumers looking for innovative and unique goods. However, 68% of companies say they do not use social media to generate orders or enquiries."
While Australia remains by far our number one trading partner (72%), we are shifting towards the ever-growing China (30%) and away from our traditional chief trading partner, the UK (26%), post-Brexit.
A joint initiative between ExportNZ and DHL, a total of 379 New Zealand exporters were surveyed for the ExportNZ DHL Export Barometer 2017.
13 Nov 2017 - Fisher and Paykel Healthcare Corp has won a patent case against ResMed in the UK in the ongoing intellectual property dispute for its face and nasal masks across various jurisdictions.
The High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, Patents Court ruled a disputed ResMed patent was invalid, with the New Zealand manufacturer entitled to recover its legal costs with the amount yet to be determined by the court, the company said in a statement.
“While today’s ruling is just one more step on the journey, it reinforces our confidence in our position and we are satisfied with progress so far,” chief executive Lewis Gradon said.
In 2016, F&P Healthcare claimed that three of ResMed's European patents were invalid in the UK and should be revoked. ResMed counterclaimed for infringement but did eventually revoke two of the patents, leaving only one before the court.
ResMed argued that patent EP 2 708 258 B1 was infringed by two of F&P Healthcare’s masks used for obstructive sleep apnea therapy, the Eson and Simplus masks. Had the patent been valid it would have been infringed. However, "the court found that the patent was invalid in its entirety." F&P Healthcare said.
Subject to any appeal, this European patent will be revoked in the UK and "this result confirms that UK patients can continue to purchase and enjoy the benefits of our high-performance masks," the New Zealand company said.
The skirmish is the latest in a far-ranging dispute between the two firms, with legal action spanning from North America to Europe to New Zealand.
In October F&P Healthcare said that the Regional Court in Munich had ruled ResMed did not infringe its patents on a German utility model patent. A further case is before the same court regarding another patent with a ruling expected in 2018, pending proceedings filed by F&P Healthcare in the European Patent Office.
In its annual report, F&P Healthcare said it had absorbed pre-tax patent litigation costs of $20.7 million during the year to March 31 and it expects to incur litigation-related expenses at a similar run-rate during the 2018 financial year.
F&P Healthcare shares slipped 0.1 percent to $13.20 but have gained 55 percent so far this year.
| Published on Sharechat || November 13, 2017 |||
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
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